Vice Chancellor Corinne Peek-Asa, Ph.D. (she/her) is the Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor with Distinction of Epidemiology at the University of California, San Diego. She was formerly the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Public Health and the William Battershell Distinguished Professor at the University of Iowa. Dr. Peek-Asa’s research focuses on the epidemiology, implementation, and translation of programs and policies to prevent acute traumatic injuries and violence. She directs an NIH-funded International Trauma and Violence Research Training Program and was the Director of the CDC-funded Injury Prevention Research Center from 2004 to 2020. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on the NAM Accelerating Progress in Traumatic Brain Injury Forum. She was a 2010 ResearchAmerica! Public Health Hero. The impact of VCR Peek-Asa’s work to reduce the burden of traumatic injury and violence led to numerous public health advancements, local and federal policies, and prevention programs.

“Lifting as we climb” is the guiding motto that drives Sonya Young Aadam’s (she/her) deep passion for the overall health and uplift of Black women and families. In October 2014, Sonya joined the California Black Women’s Health Project as Chief Executive Officer, committing herself to its mission, vision, and values. She is a University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School of Business graduate who brings more than 20 years of comprehensive experience in strategic planning, financial analysis, and management with corporations like Barclays Bank, The Walt Disney Company, and Viacom/MTV Networks. Sonya is a strategist, trained facilitator, community program developer/manager, and trusted leader currently serving on multiple statewide, regional, and local advisory groups, task forces, steering committees, and coalitions focused on health equity, social and gender justice.

Ruth Teseyem Tadesse (she/her) currently serves as a Community Health Specialist in the Refugee Health Unit-Center for Community Health, at UCSD. Ruth supports the United Women of East Africa by providing technical and evaluation support under the RHU. Ruth provides capacity building support to various ethnic based community partners, in addition to cultural competency training for partners in the community serving refugee and immigrant communities. Ruth contributes to community based participatory research by working with various stakeholders to support community led data collection and data desegregation efforts to improve barriers to understanding refugees’ behavioral health and health care needs.

Dr. Katie Chun (she/her) is a Research Scientist with the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch, serving as chief of the Violent Injury Prevention Data Unit at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). She has focused her career on using research to promote wellness and injury prevention in communities.

Dr. Anita Raj (she/her) is a Tata Chancellor Professor of Society and Health and a Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Education Studies. Dr. Raj is also the Founding Director of the Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH). Her research, including both epidemiologic and intervention studies, focuses on sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health, women’s economic empowerment, and gender inequalities including gender-based violence and child, early and forced marriage. Dr. Raj has approximately 300 peer-reviewed publications. She created and leads the EMERGE platform, which provides open access to evidence-based measures on gender equality and empowerment. She also created and leads the CalVEX study which involves state-wide survey research and supportive qualitative data on violence and health in California with support from Blue Shield of California Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.

Dr. Sabrina Boyce, Ph.D., MPH (she/her) is an incoming Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health (July 2023) and outgoing Postdoctoral Fellow at GEH. Dr. Boyce has worked with GEH since 2015 addressing gender inequity as an upstream determinant of poor health among women, adolescents, and sexual and gender minorities in the US and internationally. Her research illuminates community and societal-level determinants of gender-based violence and provides evidence from experimental and quasi-experimental trials. She co-leads with Dr. Silverman a long-term partnership with the California Department of Public Health focused on evaluation and data-initiatives for state-wide violence prevention.

Dr. Aleese Moore-Orbih (she/her) is the Executive Director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. Dr. Aleese Moore-Orbih has had over twenty incredible years of national and grassroots leadership across the country in capacity building, systems change, and collaboration building. Her work to end domestic violence is rooted in an intersectional framework that acknowledges race and ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender and sexual orientation, age, ability, and immigrant identity. As the Executive Director of CPEDV, Dr. Moore-Orbih is intentional about raising the visibility of the coalition’s anti-oppression work, moving the public discourse, and supporting policy and community advocacy toward more effective prevention and intervention solutions.

Sandra Henriquez (she/her/hers) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VALOR. She has led VALOR since 2010, helping to elevate the profile of sexual violence and the work of rape crisis center programs throughout the state and nation. Ms. Henriquez has worked in the movement to end sexual and domestic violence since 1985. As VALOR’s CEO, Ms. Henriquez has helped to transform the organization’s culture and strategies by centering and amplifying the voices and experiences of those who are most marginalized, and working to create systemic change. Under her leadership, VALOR has embarked on several efforts creating strategic partnerships with change influencers in order to create a cultural shift among industries throughout California.

Lucia Corral Peña (she/her) was appointed in March 2023 to Chief Program Director for Blue Shield of California Foundation, leading the Foundation’s Program Team to advance domestic violence prevention and health equity strategies. Prior to her appointment, Corral Peña was a Senior Program Officer leading the Foundation’s work to break the cycle of domestic violence by grounding prevention strategies in equity and inclusion, and through strategic grantmaking, innovative partnerships, and policy solutions. With 30 years of programmatic and grantmaking experience, she previously served as director of the Western Region for Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), program director at The California Wellness Foundation.

Leticia Olvera Aréchar (she/her) is a Program Manager for El Sol, she started her career in 2011 as a Promotora. She was born in Zacatecas, México. As a teenager she developed a passion for what she is doing now. She used to help her father advocate for electricity in her neighborhood. She was pretty young back then, but from that moment she knew she was a real Promotora. Supporting her father was her first approach to the Promotora’s field. Nowadays, she works in the Coachella Valley and leads a group of Promotoras. All of them work with their hearts for the community, advocating, supporting and bringing education and the resources to empower them. El Sol hires hearts and trains minds.

April McGill, M.P.A. (Yuki, Wappo, Little Lake Pomo, Wailaki; she/her) is the Director of Community Partnerships & Projects at the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health. She is a California Native and is very active in the Native American community in the Bay Area. April currently leads the violence against women Red Women Rising Project (RWR) the Traditions of Health Project and currently the Getting Real About Stigma Reduction (GRASP) HCV prevention grant. In her activism and community work she is the Coordinator for the American Indian Cultural Center of San Francisco pushing for the city to give the Native community a cultural arts and wellness center.

Vice Chancellor John M. Carethers, MD (he/him) became the Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at UC San Diego in January 2023. As Vice Chancellor, he oversees UC San Diego Health along with the School of Medicine, School of Public Health and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences to integrate, grow, and expand the missions of clinical excellence, education, discovery, and community engagement. Dr. Carethers is a trained gastroenterologist and physician-scientist who focuses his research in the area of hereditary colon cancer genetics and colon cancer disparities.

Debbie Chang, MPH (she/her) is President and Chief Executive Officer at Blue Shield of California Foundation. In this role, Chang leads the Foundation’s work to make California the healthiest state and end domestic violence, and she oversees more than $30 million in annual grantmaking. For over 30 years she has demonstrated a proven track record of establishing innovative programs and national and regional partnerships – including spearheading a national partnership with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to combat childhood obesity in childcare centers. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2020, she served as senior vice president and chief policy and prevention officer for Nemours Children’s Health System and has held key positions in government, including Deputy Secretary of Health Care Financing at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with oversight for Maryland’s Medicaid program, and was the first federal Director of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Throughout her career, Chang has championed equity and inclusion in health and health care, drawing on a deep personal commitment to building a more just and equitable world.

Candace Girod, MPH (she/her), became interested in GBV as an undergraduate working on a campus-based sexual assault prevention program, facilitating a batterer intervention program and volunteering at her local domestic violence shelter. In 2016 she joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she serves as the Senior Adviser for Health Equity in the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP). As the Senior Adviser, Candace strategizes about DVP’s approach to health equity and works to incorporate an anti-oppression lens into its scientific and programmatic efforts. Candace’s interests include GBV among bisexual individuals, housing affordability and its impact on violence, and equity focused evaluation.

Betsy Butler (she/her) has served as the Executive Director for the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC) since 2013 where she works to create a more just and equitable society by breaking down barriers and advancing the potential of women and girls through transformative litigation, policy advocacy and education. Prior to joining CWLC, Betsy served in the California State Assembly representing the 53rd District which covered coastal Los Angeles. During her tenure, Betsy prioritized bills addressing the needs of veterans, older Americans, working families, the environment and consumer rights. She began her career in public service with Lt. Governor Leo McCarthy and was an appointee of President Bill Clinton in the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She presently serves on the Board of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project of Los Angeles and the Advisory Board of Peace Over Violence, a domestic violence education and support organization.

Bailey White (she/her) is the Program Consultant for the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative and the All Children Thrive (ACT), California program with the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVPB) at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and works to prevent child adversity and child maltreatment related fatalities and promote Positive Childhood Experiences. Prior to joining the State of California, Bailey worked as a Social Science Researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center on a public health trial within the Women’s Health Initiative. Bailey has a Masters of Public Health from San José State University and a BS in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Utah.

Andrea Guzman (she/her) is a Research Scientist for the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVPB). Andrea joined IVPB after completing the California Epidemiology Investigation Service (Cal-EIS) Fellowship with the California Tobacco Control Program. Prior to the fellowship, Andrea spent several years as a prevention educator and victim advocate for non-profits focused on supporting victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, and worked as a program coordinator for the New Hampshire Public Health Association during graduate school. Andrea received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of New Hampshire and has an undergraduate degree in Health Science from California State University, Chico.

Lisa James (she/her) is Director of Health at Futures Without Violence. As part of a National Health Initiative on Domestic Violence, Ms. James has collaborated with health care providers, domestic violence experts, and health policymakers in over 30 states across the U.S. to develop statewide health care responses to domestic violence through training, health policy reform, and public education. She collaborates with national medical and nursing associations to enact effective health policy and programmatic health care responses to abuse and was the recipient of the American Medical Associations’ Citation for Distinguished Service for her efforts to train health care providers on domestic violence. Ms. James has coordinated the biennial National Conference on Health Care and Domestic Violence. During her 25 years Futures without Violence, Ms. James has also worked with the international program to build the capacity of health systems, providers, and community members to identify and help victims in reproductive health settings.

Dr. Elizabeth Reed, ScD, MPH (she/her), is Associate Professor in Global Health at San Diego State University and affiliated with the Center on Gender Equity and Health at UC San Diego. Dr. Reed conducts research on the intersection of gender inequity, poverty, and health – with a focus on the prevention of gender-based violence and associated sexual/reproductive health outcomes among women and girls. Using the findings of her research, she has also developed and evaluated programs to promote economic opportunity, health, and safety among women and girls. She has conducted her work in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the U.S.

Dr. Jay Silverman, PhD (he/him), is a Professor of Medicine and Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD) School of Medicine. Dr. Silverman is a leading global health researcher on understanding and preventing gender-based violence against adolescent and adult women (e.g., intimate partner violence, sexual violence and sex trafficking), including development and testing of community and health service-based interventions to reduce gender-based violence. He has led multiple major federally, foundation and UN-funded studies on these topics, and has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers, including many in top-tier scientific journals (e.g., JAMA, Lancet).

Dr. Jennifer A. Wagman, PhD, MHS (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is Associate Director of the Center for Gender and Health Justice which is part of the UC Global Health Institute. Dr. Wagman’s research focuses on violence as a public health issue, both independently and as it intersects with mental health, substance use, and sexual and reproductive health.

L Tuiletufuga (they/them); L’s social location: non-binary-queer person of color. L has worked in the community for over 10 years as a group facilitator and speaker. They received their Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Psychology from the University of California at San Diego and their Master of Science degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from San Diego State University. L works in private practice, The LGBT Community Center, and the Hillcrest Youth Center with individuals, couples, families, and groups who are experiencing emerging identities, shifts in preferences, recovering from relational violence and other forms of trauma, and folks who are experiencing issues of immigration, low socio-economic status, and racial marginalization.

Rio Moncado, M.S., LMFT (he/him/his/el) is a licensed therapist in California with a personal and professional background rooted in the LGBTQ+ community and first-generation immigrant family. With expertise in mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, and relationship violence treatment and interventions counseling, Rio has experience working with diverse populations, including people who have experienced incarceration, those living with HIV, and individuals who have experienced trauma. As a bilingual therapist, Rio provides services in both Spanish and English. Rio’s approach to therapy involves combining clients’ strengths, lived experiences, and clinical interventions to help them create meaningful and fulfilling stories of their lives.

Wendy Cheung (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. She holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley in French and Peace and Conflict Studies, with a concentration in Human Rights. She is a first-generation high school graduate and the proud daughter of rural Chinese immigrants. Her research focuses on education and community-centered interventions to address public health disparities and gender inequalities. Wendy has fought for gender equity with women’s rights organizations and domestic violence shelters in Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, Thailand, and the United States. Prior to coming to UC San Diego, she taught high school English, French and Interventional Reading in New Orleans and Atlanta public schools. Wendy is an advocate for Asian and Pacific Islander leadership and facilitates API student leadership programs through LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics). Committed to educational equity in policy and practice, Wendy is a member of the College for All Coalition, the LAUSD AANHPI AMEMSA Steering Committee, and the Government to University Initiative Steering Committee.

David S. Lee, MPH (he/him/his) is the Deputy Director at ValorUS. With a focus on prevention, he leads VALOR’s team that provides training and technical assistance to California’s rape crisis centers on prevention activities. He oversees PreventConnect, the nation’s leading online community to advance primary prevention of sexual and domestic violence. He’s been a part of the movement to end sexual assault and domestic violence since 1982.